Smith was a rather extraordinary man. Born in Kircaldy, County Fife, Scotland, in 1723, Smith is characterized by Robert Heilbroner as a "proficient student" (1999). Heilbroner then goes on to tell the story of Smith who was kidnapped by gypsies when he was 4 years old. At the age of seventeen, Smith went to study at Oxford. Heilbroner is quick to point out that Oxford at this time was hardly the venerable bastion of learning that it is today and that Smith spent his time there "largely uneducated and untaught, reading as he heard it” (1999). Smith describes Oxford as a “sanctuary in which shattered systems and obsolete prejudices find refuge and protection, having been driven out all over the world” (Herman, 2001). In 1751 Smith became chair of logic at the University of Glasgow, and then chair of moral philosophy at the same institution. Smith was strongly influenced by his mentor, Francis Hutcheson, and his friend David Hume. Apparently, Smith was almost expelled from Oxford for keeping Hume's work in his room (Heilbronner, 1999). And Smith’s A Theory of Moral Sentiments is a reworking of “Hutcheson’s theory of moral sense” (Herman, 2001). Heilbronner writes of The Wealth of Nations that "before Smith, there was a long line of observers who approached his understanding of the world: Locke, Steuart, Mandeville, Petty, Cantillion, Turgot, not to mention Quesnay and Hume. Smith took away from each of them: there are more than a hundred authors mentioned by name in his treatise...The Wealth of Nations is not an entirely original book” (1999). Rima disagrees to some extent saying that it "contains remarkably few references to the writings of other authors and that Smith was perhaps less scholarly in......mid the item......his request could be satisfied and the natural response price restored. For example, if people want more socks and fewer dresses, the price of socks will increase because there will not be enough supply to supply all the socks demanded and the price of dresses will decrease because there will be more dresses than there are. people want. As the price of dresses falls, dressmakers employ fewer people and sock manufacturers employ more people until there are enough dresses and socks to meet demand. This is what he describes as the invisible hand. Works Cited Heilbroner, Robert L. Philosophers of the World: The Lives, Times, and Ideas of Great Economic Thinkers. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999. Print. Herman, Arthur. How the Scots invented the modern world. New York: Three Rivers, 2001. Print. Rima, Ingrid Hahne. Development of economic analysis. New York, NY: Routledge, 2009. Print.